Storm Tracking: Clouds Give Way to Some Offense

I'm sure almost everyone has heard the old adage, "The best defense is a good offense." Well the Carolina Hurricanes started the week with the defense being the ONLY offense. Carolina's blueline accounted for the first 4 goals for the Canes this week and the 5th was a shorthanded goal. The Canes lost both of those games, but did come away with a point in Beantown. Then on Sunday, against the Senators, the clouds parted and Carolina's offense was able to see the light. The forwards scored 4 goals, giving the Hurricanes their highest scoring game since October 19th and their first win this season by more than 1 goal. Does this mean the offense is breaking out of their slump, only time will tell, but at least there is a little bit of hope. Here are the stats for the week of 11/20/13 through 11/26/13.

Canes Weekly Stats

Weekly Advanced Stats

Here is a little key to some of my abbreviations. F - For, A - Against, CF% - Corsi For Percentage, FF% - Fenwick For Percentage, SF% - Shots For Percentage, OZst% - Offensive Zone Start Percentage, NZst% - Neutral Zone Start Percentage and DZst% - Defensive Zone Start Percentage. If you would like more advanced statistics, this information was collected from www.extraskater.com.

Who's Hot

• Andreaj Sekera - As his zone starts might indicate, Sekera's primary duty with the Canes is shutting down the opposition's top line. But this week, Sekera decided the Canes need to score more and no one else was doing it, so why not just do it yourself? He scored 2 goals against Detroit, including a shorty, and opened up the scoring in Boston. His 3 goals led the team this week and gave him 5 on the season, good for a tie for 2nd on the season. But he didn't only score goals this week. He was on the ice for a team high 8 goals for and only 3 against. His +5 was a team best, his 8 shots on goal were good for 2nd and he was in the top 5 in both blocked shots and takeaways. His possession numbers weren't great, coming in at 50% or slightly below, but compared to his teammates, they were above average. Sekera has proven to be one of the most valuable players on this squad and every week he provides a little bit more.
• Patrick Dwyer - Dwyer's primary duty on this team is also one of defensive responsibility. But the energy forward has some skill and put that on display this week. He only had 2 points, both goals, but man they were important goals. His first goal was a shorthanded one against the Bruins that tied the game and got the Canes into OT, netting them a point in the standings. His second was a top-shelf laser that tied the game against the Senators and opened Carolina's best offensive game in a month. He led the team in shots on goal with 9 and tied for the team lead in takeaways with 5. And even though he isn't a big guy, he was 5th on the team with 6 hits. While Dwyer is probably over-slotted on the Hurricanes 2nd line, he has and continues to prove his worth to this team.
• Eric Staal - Eric probably had his best game of the season on Sunday, it was his second multi-point game of the season. While his possession numbers and faceoff percentage took a step back this week, he did account for a team high 5 points and was a +1. His point streak now sits at 6 games and the hope is that Eric is finally waking up from his slumber. He also led all forwards in ice time and was tied for 3rd on the team with 7 shots on goal. If Eric can continue to play the way he did against Ottawa, this will help alleviate pressure on the entire team. Then, if & when Alexander Semin comes back, this team's offense could really break out. For 2 weeks now, my 3rd "Who's Hot" player has scored a goal in the next Canes game, I'm REALLY hoping that streak continues tonight.

Who's Not

• Tim Gleason - The only stat that I really need to point out is that this team is winless with Gleason in the lineup. He only played in 2 games this week, but he was a -3 for the week and was not on the ice for any goals for. Gleason was also the lowest rated defenseman in every possession category this week. He was a team low in 5 on 5 Corsi at 19.5%, I believe that is the first teens I've seen from any Canes defenseman this season. Throw on top of all of this, Gleason appears to be injured again and the situation goes from bad to worse. Once a reliable defender that would stick up for his teammates, Timmy is a shell of his former self. While there are trade rumors involving him, at this point, I think Jim Rutherford's only option will be to keep him healthy and buy him out at the end of the season. It's appears to be a sad ending for a really good guy, but this team is currently better without Gleason.
• Ryan Murphy - As with every rookie, there are ups and downs and this week was a down for young Murphy. He was held pointless for the week, was a team worse -4 and was not on the ice for any Carolina goals. Even his time on ice diminished to 16:58 per game. His possession numbers were also quite low, hovering between the low 40s to low 30s. But I do need to mention that his possession numbers improved dramatically (along with the rest of the team's) when his playing partner, Tim Gleason, was held out of the Ottawa game. It was a rough week for Ryan, but hopefully he can use this as a learning process. He has quite a few advantages over typical NHL defensemen, but he also has a couple of disadvantages. The more experience he gains, the better of he should be, but he needs to be better offensively and on the power play.
• Jiri Tlusty - I really debated on who to put in this final spot, but went with Tlusty because his struggles are pretty obvious. He was again held pointless and was a -3 for the week, worse rating among all the forwards. But he did try to do some other things to help the team. He tied for the team lead in hits with 10 and his possession numbers were generally in the upper half of the team. While there has been some talk of trading Tlusty, I don't think that is the wise thing to do and it definitely isn't the right time. If Eric can get his game together, that should benefit Tlusty and if he can get back to even half of what he was last season, the Canes will have a good player at a good value. The other thing about trying to move Tlusty now is that you would be selling at his low point, so the return for him wouldn't be great. I see parts of his game that are coming around, give him a little while longer and I feel his production will return.

Notable Weekly Team Stats

• Stop the presses everyone, the Carolina Hurricanes averaged 3.00 goals per game this week. That ranked tied for 7th in the league. They also weren't to shabby on defense either, giving up 2.67 goals per game, tying for 17th in the league.
• The PP wasn't great, but it was respectable this week, going 2 for 10, tied with Chicago for 15th. The PK improved some, registering an 81.8% kill rate, good for 17th in the NHL. The Canes did add 2 more shorthanded goals, bring their total on the season to 4. That puts them in a 4-way tie for 1st with Los Angeles, Calgary and Toronto.
• The faceoff percentage plummeted this week, dropping to 22nd in the NHL (47.0%). Jordan led the way at 67.4%, Manny was at 47.4%, Eric was at 40.4% and Elias only won 21.1%.
• Carolina again led the league in takeaways for the week (34). Their +4 takeaway to giveaway ratio was good for 2nd in the NHL. They were came in at 11th in number of hits (83) and 15th in blocked shots (38).
• Shots for and against continue to be a problem. The Hurricanes 29.3 shots for were 19th and their 40.3 shots against were dead last in the league.
• Team Stat of the Week - Corsi For & Fenwick For - 46.2 & 44.8 - While it might not have looked that way, the Canes actually improved on both of these figures from the previous week. But these numbers have to improve if this team has any plans ongetting the offense going. These numbers would rank 26th and 28th in the NHL on the season. Carolina isn't the Toronto Maple Leafs, they can't win consistently despite poor possession numbers.

Former Canes Weekly Stats

Upcoming Opponents

• New Jersey Devils - The Canes will have a home & home with New Jersey, starting with a trip to Newark tonight. The Devils returned home on Monday, losing to Winnipeg, after a 3 game California road trip that saw them collect 4 of 6 points. Their special teams were pretty effective last week, clocking in at 33.3% on the PP and 85.7% on the PK. New Jersey is just ahead of Carolina in the standings, with both teams currently 1 point out of the final playoff spot. These two games are very important for both clubs.
• Vancouver Canucks - Vancouver is 1-1-1 over their past 3 games and while they don't seem as dangerous as years past, they still are a very good team. Their PK was perfect for the week and ranks #1 on the season at 89.5%. The Canes will welcome back Zac Dalpe and Jeremy Welsh, neither is getting a ton of playing time with Vancouver, but the Canes always seem to get burned by former players. It should make for an interesting game.
• Washington Capitals - The Caps had a rough go of it this past week, going 0-2-1. They are usually killers on special teams, but their PP was only 1 for 8 and their PK was 66.7%. The team is struggling a little scoring goals, but Alex Ovechkin is not! He accounted for all 3 goals Washington scored this week and has 42 goals in his last 45 games. The key for the Canes will be limiting Washington's PP chances and keeping someone all over Oveckin every time he hits the ice.